Sea Lemon releases debut album ‘Driving For A Prize’
The Seattle singer-songwriter’s debut album is a treasure trove for shoegaze listeners.
Photo: Rachel Bennett
Just in time for the sunny, seaside days of summer, Sea Lemon, AKA Natalie Lew released her debut album Diving For A Prize. Inspired by her beachy upbringing, the Seattle solo-artist combined shoegaze and dreampop to produce a project that flows as naturally as the ocean’s tide.
In collaboration with Andy Park, who worked with artists such as Death Cab for Cutie and Deftones, the two blended Lew’s talent for sorrowful lyricism with a sense of whimsy that forged a way for the upcoming artist to come into her own after her debut EPs Close Up and Stop At Nothing (2022). While her first releases still cut deep, the twelve-track project highlights her development as a musician since her start in 2020 and showcases her raw musical talent.
Much like the artist, the album gets better as it progresses. There isn’t a single song that sits out of place though, her sound is otherworldly. Each song embraces an aquatic theme, alluding to Lew’s upbringing in the Pacific Northwest, while manipulating an alluring, dreamy message behind her lyrics. Opening up with Thought For You, Lew experiments with sweet, synthetic strumming that matches her melancholic memos for someone in her past before rolling into Stay, the album’s first promotional single. The chorus line “So stay / So stay / Just stay for a while” repeats and ripples each word on top of the other like a drop of water into a pool.
Notably, Stay, Give In, and Sweet Anecdote incorporate influential sounds from Death Cab for Cutie’s Plans (2005) and Deftones’ Saturday Night Wrist (2006). Lew’s ability to build on her inspirations with a touch of influence from Park’s own musicality moulds a new direction for the upcoming artist. This merger allows Lew to embrace a darker, murkier sound to express a sentiment that she wasn’t able to find earlier in her career.
From then on, the remaining half of the album reaches back into Sea Lemon’s persona entirely. Cynical and Rear View approach on an exciting rhythm to build momentum like a rushing river. Sea Lemon sings, “All in the rear view now / All the terrible things burn down / All in the rear view now / Just regret what you have and walk out”, as a way of accepting the past and moving forward on top of a ticking tom drum to kick listeners into the next track.
Synthesising her own taste with her current project, Lew is joined by Benjamin Gibbard, Death Cab for Cutie’s frontman, on Crystals in a powerful pièce de résistance to the project. Combining grunge and infusing her own cadence, the second-to-last track is an amazing musical collaboration of two geniuses before breaking back into In The Flowers, her final track.
A shining, shimmering example of dreampop that makes you feel like you can run on water, Sea Lemon’s Diving For A Prize is an exemplary yet enigmatic pool of self-reflection that will leave listeners thirsty for more.
Following the release of the album, Sea Lemon will be on tour with American Football and Death Cab for Cutie across the United States.
Diving For A Prize is out now via Luminelle Recordings.